Might switch to Regular Rats, info needed

From what I've heard normal rats are easy to breed, mostly friendly and don't eat their babies as often. I was breeding mice with little success and have completely switched to rats. I've had a 1.2 group together for 2 weeks now, so I'm crossing my fingers for babies in the next few weeks.

The wifey doesn't like rats OR snakes? Dude...I feel for you...

I get sick when i smell rats, its just something about it that makes me get headaches and want to puke:weirdface Mice on the other hand have been great, they smell more but when rats smell its alot stronger. Ive tryed breeding rats twice and got nothing, but mice have been great. I will never try ASFS, Unless you breed just for pet snakes it will be a pain trying to sell baby snakes stuck on ASFs to people who have little or no access to them. :spork:

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to pick up 1.2 for now just to see if I get more production out of them. So now my question is this, if I get 1.2 can I add another female down the road if I decide to scrap the ASF's and just go with rats? Ideally I'd like to have two colonies of 1.3 (have 6 snakes now with a few more coming). Also what size/age are the females breedable? I think I read somewhere that males are ready after 5 weeks and females atleast 4 months? That sound about right?

You can add another female as long as the females you have are not...(what is a nice way to put this) pissy about it. I had one female who would not let any other females except "her" females in the cage with her. But MOST of my other females (as long as they where introduced in a neural environment (I usually used a different cage) cool about it. However I never did it when the others where pregnant. So this meant removing the male before the females gave birth, waiting till the babies are weened THEN adding everyone back in (the male and the new female) in a different cage. Good luck. One thing to remember is they need more space, 1.5ft cubed per rat to get litters. I try and give them at least 2ft cubed per male and 1.5 for females as long as the girls are not too big.


I breed females about 6 months old. Males 3 months. That is a LOT of babies as the females usually give birth about the same time. My litters usually run about 13 babies per litter.

What kind of cage are you using? What do you plan on feeding them? Good luck :D

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Originally Posted by akaangela

You can add another female as long as the females you have are not...(what is a nice way to put this) pissy about it. I had one female who would not let any other females except "her" females in the cage with her. But MOST of my other females (as long as they where introduced in a neural environment (I usually used a different cage) cool about it. However I never did it when the others where pregnant. So this meant removing the male before the females gave birth, waiting till the babies are weened THEN adding everyone back in (the male and the new female) in a different cage. Good luck. One thing to remember is they need more space, 1.5ft cubed per rat to get litters. I try and give them at least 2ft cubed per male and 1.5 for females as long as the girls are not too big.


I breed females about 6 months old. Males 3 months. That is a LOT of babies as the females usually give birth about the same time. My litters usually run about 13 babies per litter.

What kind of cage are you using? What do you plan on feeding them? Good luck :D

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Thanks for the info, it's a great help. I have 72qt tubs dedicated to my rodents, and was planning on feeding what I feed my ASF's, Lab block, fruits and veggies and a seed mix for a treat once in a while.

Ok so i picked up 1.1 normal rats......I really need to stop this my basement is turning into a zoo and my wife wants to kill me :8: i'll keep you posted, they seem to be getting along great, if all goes well I'm going to grab 2 more females next weekend. I still have my ASF's as well, going to give them a little more time to prove their worth to me :D